VMWARE - Migration went wrong - failure - migration

Need your help:
Short story, I've tried to migrate a ESXI VM to a new ESXI server and make an huge mistake, instead of copy the VM I move it to a shared folder, NFS, when trying to add inventory it adds, but don't started. I've successfully create the vmx file and VM it worked, but now I have another problem, the VM has more then 1 year old, so it's missing the snapshot. Now start's my doubts and can't figure out after many hours... I've added the snapshot file and the vm but can't figure it out how to put it to work.
This is a picture of the files structure:
enter image description here
The image has two parts the, first it the VM working folder and the other folder "ZZ Temp", has the snapshot and the vm?. I had to create this folder because could not copy them inside the VM already exist also I've copy "Windows Server 2008 R2-000001-delta.vmdk" to the VM It later let me to do so...
Conclusion this is all a mess and can't figure it out how to reaseamble this, can someone help me to do this.
1- Can I copy the files to the old server and reassemble, but I have the same issue it don't let me copy all the files to the VM folder.
2-How can I know if the 300GB "Windows Server 2008 R2-flat.vmdk" file is the base file server?
Do I need it or I just need this 2 from ZZ Temp folder "Windows Server 2008 R2-flat.vmdk","Windows Server 2008 R2-000001-delta.vmdk"
I'm completely lost need your guidance.

Related

Is there any method to regenerate cms/blocks in magento2 without sql file?

So far, I developed cms/blocks on staging server directly, therefore I have no any local dev environment.
Suddenly server HDD was crashed and i failed to restore data on server.
All my codes have been managing by git but can't find any certain files that are related to cms/blocks
The content of CMS blocks are stored in the database table cms_block. There is not backup in the filesystem.

How to retrieve the data from vmdk file of Virtual Machine

I had create a VM using Windows 7 x64 on Window 7 x64. 1 year ago. after that today I tried to start the VM but I'm getting the following error.
"System can not find the specified path"
After doing some google on error I found out that there are 2 different files
one is .vmdk and other is .vmdk
So I found this article explaining
How to recreate missing descriptor file.
But it was not helpful as i don't know what is ESX or ESXi. I Don't have any. I simply used my laptop to create VM using VMware.
What I want is, power on the created VM and retrieve the data in it.
Is there any ways/ alternate way to retrieve the data from those vmdk
file.
Let me know if you need any other information. I don't know much about this. Also I have more than 7 vmdk files.
If you created the Windows 7 x64 VM on a Windows system, hopefully you did it with VMware Workstation.
If so, Workstation has a 'Map Virtual Disks' option where you can mount a VMDK and access it through the host system.
It's available through 'File' -> 'Map Virtual Disks'
More detailed information can be found here: https://pubs.vmware.com/workstation-9/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.ws.using.doc%2FGUID-896E61F5-0865-4D3B-975E-DE476AFC7168.html

Cannot connect to Compute Engine CentOS Virtual Machine

I am new to Virtual Machines and CLI so please bear with me.
I have a CentOS 6.5 running on Compute Engine.
I ran yum update (without creating a snapshot of the previous disk - Yes I am an idiot) and not I cannot connect to the machine using the ip address.
I tried the following steps.
Tried to connect through Filezilla - didn't work.
Tried through Putty - didn't work
Tried through the browser option given by the CE console - didn't work.
I even tried creating a snapshot and starting up another VM with the snapshot - didn't work.
If anyone knows how I can get the files and folders out from the previous disk, I can start up a new VM and transfer everything again.
I do not have the latest database and this is important.
Please help!
Thanks
Warren
The way to recover is to delete your VM without deleting the disk, then create another VM with its own boot disk, attach and mount the original disk, and recover any data that you need from it.
First things first: on the VM instances page, click on the instance name that is currently running with that disk, and uncheck the box "Delete boot disk when instance is deleted". Then delete the instance.
Now, create a new instance with its own boot disk. To differentiate this new disk from the original boot disk:
using a different OS (or version of the OS) for the new disk, e.g., if using Ubuntu, try a different version or use Debian; if using RHEL, try CentOS, or vice versa
see which one is mounted at / — this should be the new disk
Mount the original disk as read-only and recover any information you need. Once you have a backup of your data, you can remount it with read-write access and try to fix it (but back up the data first!).
I finally solved this problem thanks to Misha for sending me in the right direction.
The steps are below for anyone who has the same issue.
Problem:
While updating the Centos server using yum update, I was unable to connect back to the server.
I tried all possible combinations but no luck. This seems to be a known issue as there was some material on the Compute Engine site regarding this.
Solution:
I followed the steps as Misha suggested. I started up another VM with its own boot disk and then attached the original disk with read write access.
Note: I was unable to mount the disk as just read only.
The commands were
mkdir /mnt/sdb1
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdb1
Once I mounted the VM, I copied the files from the html folder in the sdb1 disk to the html folder in the sda1(the new boot disk).
The database was a bit more challenging.
I tried quite a few times but copying the files from /dev/sdb1/var/lib/mysql into the new disk mysql folder was not working.
I found some tutorials but nothing helped.
Finally I downloaded the files from within the /dev/sdb1/var/lib/mysql and put them in my local windows mysql installation within the data folder.
Remember you have to download everything which includes the ib_logfile0 , ib_logfile1 and ibdata1 including the folder which has the *.frm files.
Then I opened localhost/phpmyadmin and voila... the files were there.
The rest was pretty simple... Exporting and uploading the SQL scripts back to the server.
This took me about 12 hours to figure out.
Thanks again Misha.

Uploading umbraco site on server from local host

I've successfully created site using Umbraco now its time to upload it on hosting server..
i've searched and got one paid product for the same..and i dont want to use it.
Has any body tried developing Umbraco site on local and then uploading it on server?
If yes then please help me doing that.
First I run the umbraco install from a local IIS website. Then I setup my visual studio solution for that website (and my souce control). Then I work, until I reach a beta version, then I go through this process for deploying:
Ftp over to the remove website and copy the whole website (I actually use Beyond compare).
Connect to my local database with management studio and create a .bak file.
Upload the .bak file to the database server.
Restore that database
Review connection strings in web.config
Then I'm pretty much done.
Once I'm "live" and have content I don't want to lose, when I want to work on the website, I bring back the live database through a .bak file, then I make my changes. They often include DB changes since the schema is basically in the database. I note all the operations I do. Once my changes are ready I manually replicate the changes on the live site as I update the files.
This is very painfull but I tried solutions like courrier and other things like that and they are not reliable enough for production I find. Manually is the only risk free way I see for the moment.
Hope this helps.
Yes, that happens all the time. Use FTP to copy your local installation to your webserver, modify the web.config to point to the correct database and your website should be up-and-running.
I'm sure there are more elegant solutions with less clicks but here's how I do it on azure websites with sql, not sure what hosting/db you're using:
1) Create an empty db on azure with the same login and user as my local db.
2) Create an empty site on azure connected to my db.
3) Download the publishing profile.
4) Upload the db the first time with Sql Azure Migration Wizard.
5) Import the publishing profile into and upload the site with WebMatrix.
6) Thereafter I deploy the site and db with WebMatrix.
WebMatrix uses WebDeploy or FTP, you can use WebDeploy through IIS if you like, and FTP.

Locked SQL Server Data Files

I have an SQL Server database where I have the data and log files stored on an external USB drive. I switch the external drive between my main development machine in my office and my laptop when not in my office. I am trying to use sp_detach_db and sp_attach_db when moving between desktop and laptop machines. I find that this works OK on the desktop - I can detach and reattach the database there no problems. But on the laptop I cannot reattach the database (the database was actually originally created on the laptop and the first detach happened there). When I try to reattach on the laptop I get the following error:
Unable to open the physical file "p:\SQLData\AppManager.mdf". Operating system error 5: "5(error not found)"
I find a lot of references to this error all stating that it is a permissions issue. So I went down this path and made sure that the SQL Server service account has appropriate permissions. I have also created a new database on this same path and been able to succesfully detach and reattach it. So I am confident permissions is not the issue.
Further investigation reveals that I cannot rename, copy or move the data files as Windows thinks they are locked - even when the SQL Server service is stopped. Process Explorer does not show up any process locking the files.
How can I find out what is locking the files and unlock them.
I have verified that the databases do not show up in SSMS - so SQL Server does not still think they exist.
Update 18/09/2008
I have tried all of the suggested answers to date with no success. However trying these suggestions has helped to clarify the situation. I can verify the following:
I can successfully detach and reattach the database only when the external drive is attached to the server that a copy of the database is restored to - effectively the server where the database is "created" - lets call this the "Source Server".
I can move, copy or rename the data and log files, after detaching the database, while the external drive is still attached to the Source Server.
As soon as I move the external drive to another machine the data and log files are "locked", although the 2 tools that I have tried - Process Explorer and Unlocker, both find no locking handles attached to the files.
NB. After detaching the database I tried both stopping the SQL Server service and shutting down the Source Server prior to moving the external drive - still with no success.
So at this stage all that I can do to move data between desktop and laptop is to make a backup of the data onto the external drive, move the external drive, restore the data from the backup. Works OK but takes a bit more time as the database is a reasonable size (1gb). Anyway this is the only choice I have at this stage even though I was trying to avoid having to go down this path.
Crazy as it sounds, did you try manually granting yourself perms on the files via right-click / properties / security? I think SQL Server 2005 will set permissions on a detached file exclusively to the principal that did the detach (maybe your account, maybe the account under which the SQL Server service runs) and no-one else can manipulate the file. To get around this I have had to manually grant myself file permissions on MDF and LDF files before moving or deleting them. See also blog post at onupdatecascade.com
Can you copy the files? I'd be curious to know if you can copy the files to your laptop and then attach them there. I would guess it is some kind of permissions error also, but it sounds like you've done the work to fix this.
Are there any attributes on the file?
Update: If you can't copy the files then something must be locking them. I would check out Unlocker which I haven't tried but sounds like a good starting point. You might also try taking ownership of the files under the file permissions.
When you are in Enterprise Manager or SSMS, can you see the name of the database that you are talking about? There might be a leftover database in a funky state. I'd make sure that you have a backup or a copy of the mdf somewhere safe. If this is the case, maybe try dropping the database and then re-attaching it.
I would try backing up the database on the desktop, and then see if it will restore successfully on the laptop. Doesn't explain your issue but at least you can move forward.
Run sqlservr.exe in debug mode with the /c switch and see what happens starting up. Any locking or permissions issue can be put to bed by making a copy of the file and transfering the copy to the origional.
Also check the associated log file (.ldf) .. If that file is missing or unavaliable you will not be able to mount the database to any sane/consistant state without resorting to emergency bypass mode.
I've had a similar issue. Nothing seemed to resolve it - even tried to reboot the machine completely, restarting SQL services etc. ProcMon and ProcessExplorer were showing nothing so I figured - the "lock" is done by OS.
I resolved it by DELETING the file and restoring it back from the drive mounted under another drive letter.
PS. My database file was not on a USB drive, but on a TrueCrypt-drive (in some you can say it's a "removable drive" as well)
Within SQL Server Configuration Manager, look in SQL Server Services. For all your SQL Server instances, look at which account is selected in the Log On Tab - Log On As:. I've found for instance, changing it to the Local System account resolves the issue you've had. It was the only thing that actually worked for me - and certainly, no shortage of people have had the same problem.
It's a security issue on -file level security - you have detached db with different credential and attaching it with other credential - just browse the article http://www.sqlservermanagementstudio.net/2013/12/troubleshooting-with-attaching-and.html
And try copy pasting it to different location.
I solved similar issue by granting system administrator to all permissions:
right click > properties
security tab
in group or usernames click edit.
click add > advanced
click find now to list all available permissions.
choose administrator and add it to list.
grant it to has full permission.
I had the same issue. Someone had detached the files and left, and we were unable to move it to another drive. But after taking ownership of the file (security-->advanced-->take ownership to your login id), and then adding your login id to the security tab and giving access on the file, was able to move.